Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold

Set in the pre-Christian world of Glome on the outskirts of Greek civilization, it is a tale of two princesses: the beautiful Psyche, who is loved by the god of love himself, and Orual, Psyche's unattractive and embittered older sister, who loves Psyche with a destructive possessiveness. Her frustration and jealousy over Psyche's fate sets Orual on the troubled path of self-discovery. Lewis's last work of fiction, this is often considered his best by critics.

The Pilgrim's Regress

The first book written by C.S. Lewis after his conversion, The Pilgrim's Regress is, in a sense, a record of Lewis's own search for meaning and spiritual satisfaction that eventually led him to Christianity.

The Problem of Pain

"If God is good and all-powerful, why does he allow his creatures to suffer pain?" And what of the suffering of animals, who neither deserve pain nor can be improved by it? The greatest Christian thinker of our time sets out to disentangle this knotty issue. With his signature wealth of compassion and insight, C. S. Lewis offers answers to these crucial questions and shares his hope and wisdom to help heal a world hungering for a true understanding of human nature.

The Screwtape Letters

A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world over with its sly and ironic portrayal of human life from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to "Our Father Below". At once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original, C. S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly-wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging and humorous account of temptation - and triumph over it - ever written.

The Four Loves

In this remarkable recording, C.S. Lewis shows why millions of readers have acclaimed him the greatest spokesman for Christianity in the twentieth century. In a resonant, baritone voice, Lewis explores the nature of the four Greek words that are translated love in English: "storge" (affection), "philia" (friendship), "eros" (sexual or romantic love) and "agape" (selfless love).

Mere Christianity

One of the most popular and beloved introductions to the concept of faith ever written, Mere Christianity has sold millions of copies worldwide. This audiobook brings together C. S. Lewis' legendary radio broadcasts during the war years, in which he set out simply to "explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times."

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: The Chronicles of Narnia

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor's mysterious old house. At first her brothers and sister don't believe her when she tells of her visit to the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves. In Narnia they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch.

The Abolition of Man

Both astonishing and prophetic, The Abolition of Man remains one of C. S. Lewis's most controversial works. Lewis sets out to persuade his audience of the ongoing importance and relevance of universal objective values, such as courage and honor, and the foundational necessity of natural law. He also makes a cogent case that a retreat from these pillars of our educational system, even if in the name of "scientism", would be catastrophic. National Review lists it as number seven on their "100 Best Nonfiction Books of the 20th Century".

Miracles

"The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this." This is the key statement of Miracles, in which C. S. Lewis shows that a Christian must not only accept but rejoice in miracles as a testimony of the unique personal involvement of God in his creation.

The Weight of Glory

Selected from sermons delivered by C. S. Lewis during World War II, these nine addresses show the beloved author and theologian bringing hope and courage in a time of great doubt. "The Weight of Glory", considered by many to be Lewis’s finest sermon of all, is an incomparable explication of virtue, goodness, desire, and glory.

God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

C. S. Lewis was a profound thinker with the rare ability to communicate the philosophical and theological rationale of Christianity in simple yet amazingly effective ways. God in the Dock contains 48 essays and 12 letters written by Lewis between 1940 and 1963 for a wide variety of publications.

Reflections on the Psalms

In one of his most enlightening works, C. S. Lewis shares his ruminations on both the form and the meaning of selected psalms. In the introduction he explains, "I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself." Consequently, he takes on a tone of thoughtful collegiality as he writes on one of the Bible's most elusive books.

C. S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces

This is an extensive collection of short essays and other pieces by C. S. Lewis that have been brought together in one volume for the first time. As well as his many books, letters, and poems, Lewis also wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defense of faith but also on various ethical issues and on the nature of literature and storytelling. In this essay collection we find a treasure trove of Lewis' reflections on diverse topics.

The Everlasting Man

Few people had a more profound effect on Christianity in the 20th century than G. K. Chesterton. The Everlasting Man, written in response to an anti-Christian history of humans penned by H.G. Wells, is considered Chesterton’s masterpiece. In it, he explains Christ’s place in history, asserting that the Christian myth carries more weight than other mythologies for one simple reason—it is the truth.

The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come

For 300 years, The Pilgrim's Progress has remained perhaps the best-loved and most read of devotional fictions. In plain yet powerful and moving language, Bunyan tells the story of Christian's struggle to attain salvation and the Gates of Heaven. He must pass through the Slough of Despond, ward off the temptations of Vanity Fair, and fight the monstrous Apollyon. In Part II, his wife and children follow the same path, helped and protected by Great-heart, until for them, too, "the trumpets sound on the other side."

Unspoken Sermons: Series One

George MacDonald has been an influence to many great individuals, including CS Lewis. He was a true master of literature and his work lives on for all to read and hear. This book contains many of his sermons that should spark truth in your inward parts.

The Holy War: The Losing and Taking Again of the Town of Mansoul

The Holy War tells the story of Mansoul, a utopia built to exalt the greatness and honor of its creator and leader, King Shaddai. However, when the wicked Diabolus, a former high servant of Shaddai's and the king of the blacks, assaults Mansoul, the town forgets its benevolent king and falls under his iniquitous rule. With the citizens of his beloved city lost to sin and vice, Shaddai sends his son, Prince Emmanuel, to deliver them from Diabolus' tyranny.

Publisher's Summary

Perelandra is a planet of pleasure, an unearthly, misty world of strange desires, sweet smells, and delicious tastes, where beasts are friendly and naked beauty is unashamed, a new Garden of Eden, where the story of the oldest temptation is enacted in an intriguingly new way. Here, in the second part of the trilogy, Dr. Ransom's adventures continue against the backdrop of a religious allegory that, while it may seem quaint in its treatment of women today, nonetheless shows the capability of science to be an evil force tempting a ruler away from the path that has produced a paradisiac kingdom.

What the Critics Say

"Geoffrey Howard's skilled narration keeps the listener riveted. His scholarly handling of the text minimizes characterization, while easily distinguishing the players. Howard's respect for the subject matter equals Lewis's own and entices the listener to address serious questions of temptation and morality." (AudioFile)

Computer Programmer and Worship Leader. Have enjoyed reading since my mom got me hooked on Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie prior to my teen years. My brother got me hooked on audio books after I started having a longer commute to work.
Love a variety of genres.

In contrast to the scoring by other reviewers, I felt that this was the strongest book in what is commonly known as "The Space Trilogy". Lewis' examination of the nature of temptation is truly fascinating as we consider how someone who may not fully realize the ramifications of disobedience can be easily misled by a clever tempter.

One of the strongest images that remains with me after listening to this book is the portrayal of Satan. One comes away with a greater understand of the hideous joy he derives from torturing, deceiving and harming creation after reading some rather grotesque scenes within the book.

Although the book does start slow (which is the case in all 3 books in the trilogy), it is a VERY worthy read and has become one of my favorites among Lewis' works of fiction. IMHO it ranks up there with "The Great Divorce" as one of Lewis' best.

YOU MAKE ME OLDER MORE QUICKLY THAN I CAN BAREThis is one of those books were people say, "I don't normally read this kind of book, but I liked this one." That means it is not for the normal Sci-Fi Lover. This has lots of flowery descriptions. This is either too deep for me or it is a poser.

I have listened to about 40 audio books and this one has pushed me to write a review.

I have never met a more insidious creature as one found in Perelandra. The "unman" character will chill you to the bone. He is worth meeting.

Lewis has the gift of building complex concepts residually for even the most ubiquitous experience so that sentence after sentence you find yourself understanding some concept through so many angles and metaphors that you will be surprised that your mind can even hold that much at one time.

Perelandra is the second volume of C.S. Lewis’s SPACE TRILOGY and I liked it even better than Out of the Silent Planet, its predecessor. Cambridge professor Dr. Elwin Ransom is back on Earth and has told his friend Lewis about the adventures he had on the planet Mars and the supernatural beings he met there. When Ransom explains that there’s an epic battle between good and evil, that the planet Venus is about to play an important part, and that he’s been called to Venus to do some unknown task, Lewis begins to worry about his friend. Yet he decides to help him get to Venus anyway, so Ransom goes and eventually returns to tell his tale, which Lewis has transcribed for us.

Venus is gorgeous — a lush conglomerate of archipelagos where the land floats on top of the water, so that walking on it is like walking on a waterbed. The sky is full of stunning colors that Ransom has never seen before; exotic trees delight the eye and yield delicious fruit. Other than the strange but friendly animals, Ransom seems to be alone in this world — until he sees a beautiful naked woman waving from a neighboring island. When he finally meets her, he discovers that evil lurks in this seemingly perfect world.

If you were able to ignore the Christian allegory in Out of the Silent Planet, you won’t be able to do so in Perelandra — it’s a parallel version of humanity’s awakening in the Garden of Eden and Eve’s temptation to sin. Evil is trying to gain a foothold and Ransom suddenly realizes what it would mean to bring “the knowledge of good and evil” into a sinless paradise. Ransom discovers that the Biblical admonition to resist temptation may be a spiritual truth on Earth, but at this time on Venus it’s a real physical battle and he has been sent to fight it, both with words and fists.

C.S. Lewis, a lover of words and mythology, writes beautifully about the alien paradise of Venus and the possibility that what is myth in one world might be truth in another. He also has much to say about good and evil, sin and obedience, madness and sanity, loneliness and companionship, science and the supernatural, predestination and free will, the nature of God and man, and humanity’s purpose in the universe. Some readers will accuse Lewis of preachiness, I’m sure, and that’s something that usually annoys me, but though Ransom’s introspections go on a little too long, I found it impossible to resist the beauty, logic, and concision of his philosophizing.

I listened to Geoffrey Howard narrate Blackstone Audio’s version of Perelandra which is just under 8 hours long. Mr. Howard narrates rather than performs the story, which I think is suitable. I’ll certainly be listening to him read the concluding volume: That Hideous Strength.Originally posted at FanLit.

Perelandra is one of my favorite C.S. Lewis books. Even though it is the second book in a trilogy, I think it stands on it's own merits as a great work. I read it before reading the other two books in the trilogy. Perelandra will cause you to pause and think about your own existence as Lewis examines the struggle between good and evil at the dawn of creation. This is a must read.

This book was my favorite in the series. It is something of a speculative account of what might have happened in Eden under different circumstances. I've listened to it twice now, and recommend it for any Christian. The story line has a lot of great thought provoking material on pleasure, obedience, self deception, spiritual warfare, God's sovereignty and man's choices, and many other topics. A lot of it comes in dialog between the Lady, Ransom, and Weston. The narrator does a nice job. The book is engaging and well written, though a little dated, because it was pretty early for SciFi. This series is not as fun as the Narnia series, but has more theology and Christian philosophy. It was sometimes challenging to think about what Lewis was teaching at the same time as following the story, but well worth it.

Where does Perelandra rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Tied for the best.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's not a character-based story, so this is a tough question. If pressed, I'd say the green woman of Venus, who represents pre-fall/pre-sin humanity. A fantastically beautiful depiction of what was, could, and ought to be--but unfortunately isn't status quo.

Have you listened to any of Geoffrey Howard’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Very similar to his reading of Out of the Silent Planet (the first of this "space trilogy").

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I chuckled at parts, felt heartbreak and nearly teared up at parts, but mostly was engrossed in awe.

Any additional comments?

C. S. Lewis is a more than competent allegorical storyteller. Read his works and be changed.

The second in this series Lewis decides to get serious. While spinning a great and imaginative story he delves into the Garden of Eden. How was Eve tempted, what was it like for Eve, What did she think after seeing herself for the first time in a mirror. Of course the story actually takes place on Venus, but all the illusions are there. In my opion only CS Lewis can get into the mind of Satan better than anyone. A fantastic story on every level,

Lewis tells a fair yarn but the interesting thing is his thinking on the state of Man in the universe. If your looking for escapist fiction, this isn't it. The science is half baked and the dialogue contrived. The ideas, however, are worth pondering.